Erste Group Bank Estimates Morgan Stanley FY2027 Earnings

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) – Research analysts at Erste Group Bank increased their FY2027 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $13.70 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $13.65. Erste Group Bank has a “Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Morgan Stanley’s current full-year earnings is $12.79 per share.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MS. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $214.56 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $141.03 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $338.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $216.60 and its 200-day moving average is $192.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 EPS.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,281,000 after acquiring an additional 8,512 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 646,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,102,000 after purchasing an additional 65,246 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth approximately $8,854,000. Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $814,000. Finally, KTF Investments LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,945,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer highlighted Morgan Stanley as one of the major beneficiaries of potentially accelerating merger-and-acquisition activity. The thesis is that easing antitrust concerns and pent-up corporate deal demand could increase advisory fees and support investment-banking revenue. Jim Cramer Recommends Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to Profit From Accelerating M&A Deals
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley has launched a $1.5 trillion innovation infrastructure initiative, a move that could strengthen its positioning in financing and advising companies involved in technology, infrastructure and other long-term investment themes. Morgan Stanley starts $1.5T innovation infrastructure initiative
• Neutral Sentiment: The firm continues expanding its fixed-income funding activity through new fixed-coupon notes and medium-term debt offerings. This may support liquidity and business growth, although investors are also asking whether Morgan Stanley’s valuation already reflects much of its earnings improvement. Morgan Stanley Expands Fixed Income Activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings sponsored a $418.1 million residential mortgage-backed securities transaction. The deal demonstrates continued securitization activity, but KBRA noted a meaningful concentration of non-prime mortgages, highlighting the credit and underwriting risks associated with the business. KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to Morgan Stanley Residential Mortgage Loan Trust 2026-NEW2
• Negative Sentiment: A Morgan Stanley-backed sale process for renewable developer PNE faces uncertainty because potential buyers reportedly offered less than the company’s market valuation. While this is not a core Morgan Stanley operating issue, an unsuccessful transaction could reduce expected advisory or financing fees. Morgan Stanley-backed PNE says sale prospects unclear

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.